Power line meter devices can be used to track one or more parameters on one or multiple phases of a power line or a power line. A meter device is usually an electronic device which is coupled to the power line and which is adapted to measure the voltage and current of the power line. Data representing the voltage and current of the power line can be processed and stored in order to determine power or energy consumption. The user and the utility provider are then able to access this data remotely or at the location at any time. Power line metering can help utility providers manage overall energy consumption patterns and cope with peak-demand challenges. Moreover, power line metering can provide better service to the utilizer. Power line metering can help customers to better manage their own usage, for example.
Several solutions for electric meters on single- or poly-phase power lines or power lines already exist. In a typical poly-phase meter arrangement the power parameters of each phase can be measured using a current transformer and a voltage transformer. For single-phase meter arrangements, solutions are known which use resistors, shunts, voltage dividers and/or current transformers. The parameters such as the power parameters and the power quality parameters such as the power factor, the harmonic distortion, the dc offset, etc. can be calculated from the sampled data using a digital signal processor or a general purpose processor.
Electric meters typically comprise several discrete packaged devices. For example, an electric meter may comprise a discrete sensing device such as a sensor (e.g., hall sensor) or a transformer and a discrete galvanic insulator such as an opto-coupler.
Because cost, space and the number of chips are always crucial, there is a need for a meter arrangement which requires fewer and more cost efficient chips (e.g., shunts or voltage dividers) and therefore is more optimized in terms of cost and space as compared to current solutions.